Australia’s wildfire season starts early this year

Our neighbors in Australia have had an extremely hot and dry spring including the hottest November on record. These have been contributing factors to an early wildfire season this year.

Firefighters in Southern Australia are finally gaining ground on a blaze that has caused devastation across 31,000 acres (as of January 6) northwest of the South Australia capital of Adelaide. So far, 163 buildings (including 38 homes) have been destroyed, 23 people were admitted to local hospitals for fire related injuries and thousands of residents evacuated the area.

Wildfires are common in Australia during their summer months.&#0160; Now that we in the US are settling in to the New Year before our fire seasons begin we can make simple changes to our homes and the landscape surrounding our homes using Firewise Principles .